(no subject)

Scary scary segment on The Current this morning: Link Byfield explaining why the Charter is a bad thing and we should just go back to straight majority-rules. Parliament should be second-guessing all of the Supreme Court's decisions and if anything squicks out the majority of the members, like, say, gay marriage, it should be overturned. I, as a mere female, have the vote because the majority granted it to me and the majority is good and just. GAAAAAAH.

(OK, I may be paraphrasing a little, but not much.)

The woman they had on with him whose name I didn't catch was good, fortunately, although very nervous.

I hope I'm not wrong about my riding being a solidly Liberal safe seat, or I may need to vote Liberal after all. (Well, if I'm wrong, I'm in good company.) What I'm hoping is that the flirtation with the Regressive Conservatives (not my term but I like it so I'm stealing it) was a brief wave, now over.

fear factor

Just for extra spice, here's Hour's take on the two election campaigns.

On January 1, 2005, nearly 325 million people will find themselves subject to the administration of a pair of highly scrutinized middle-aged men.

To make a blanket assessment of their ideologies, Jack Layton roughly equates to Ralph Nader (ethics-rich, poll-poor), Paul Martin to John Kerry (ostensibly moderate, platitudinous) and Stephen Harper to George W. Bush (cynical, retrograde, scary). The question is, how would our "special relationship" play out under these three hypothetical pairings? Of course, there are other potential couplings. For example, wouldn't Layton/Bush be fun? At state dinners, Laura Bush could talk about sterile poetry while Olivia Chow rebukes the President. Or Martin/Nader, where the President interrupts a G8 press conference to openly instruct the Prime Minister on the importance of divesting vast corporate interests in the name of the public good. These are fun to think about, but for now, let's stick to the idea of partisan cohorts.

GIP

Lookit! Lookit the icon ohiblather made me! (One of two, for she is generous as well as talented!) *Squeeee!*

Those who have met me will confirm it's exactly like me. Well, I'm not really that blonde, but I'm not complaining.

Man, I gotta get me some extra picture space.

OK, working now.

(no subject)

Man, it's like all I do lately is bitch.

( I'll hide the latest round so you don't have to read it unless you feel like it. )

That said, some things that have been good lately:

• The Fringe was great, and I saw 8 shows in 5 days which really is not bad going at all. There are some things I was sorry I didn't get to, but that would have been true if I'd seen 20 shows, so what can you do?


• Actual uninterrupted time to work has been a good thing.


• Great weekend at the cottage, with friends and doggies and WAY too much food. We had a study in contrasting dogs: 4 roughly the size and shape of a German Shepherd (Annie actually IS a German Shepherd, so we could tell) and 1 miniature long-haired dachshund, who sat out all the play-fighting and said "Nope, nothing to do with me." I bonded with crankygrrl and pixel12's family dog, Annie, to whom I provided chauffeur service -- this evidently decided her that I was OK, as she spent quite a lot of time sitting on my feet. monkeycommando's dog Bender thought she was after his tennis ball at one point and bit her ear, but it was just a scratch, luckily. And she and Sasha (who is gorgeous -- strawberry-blonde with black eyeliner and the most beautiful plumey tail -- but not too bright) spent a fair bit of time deciding who was in charge.
  We ate and drank and played Scrabble and Boggle (yes, really) and read and I labeled most of my photos from Scotland and painted my toenails purple. No swimming, but you can't have everything. (Saturday was dodgy weather but Sunday was gorgeous, of course, if cool -- I didn't want to leave.)


• And monkeycommando and S presented me with a Boromir action figure as penance for not coming to visit me! Completely unexpected and most delightful (and unnecessary). He has sword-swinging AND horn-blowing action. Squee. Of course, they are still not off the hook -- they have to come and visit at some point.


• I paid my bills, which is a load off my mind.


• Also gave my car summer tires and an oil change (at last, poor thing) and learned that the brakes were fine, just dusty.


• I'll be seeing friends tomorrow AND Friday.


• Day off on Thursday for the Fete Nationale! I'll be able to clean my apartment!


• All my pregnant friends have now delivered safely, hurray!

Things are perhaps not so bad.

(no subject)

I have no self-control at all, so I bought myself extra userpic space.

Now I need to fill it!

If anyone feels like making me an icon... y'know, out of the goodness of your heart or anything... that would be cool. But you don't have to. Thanks in advance, though! I would thank you muchly and credit you and show off to all and sundry what a cool talented generous person you are!

(This is as close as I'm willing to get to shameless begging.)

Regressive Conservative

It's popular.

Gotta love Hansard. And, I guess, the Hon. Lorne Nystrom.

Hon. Lorne Nystrom (Regina—Qu'Appelle, NDP): Mr. Speaker, I want to ask the former member of the Progressive Conservative Party about this. Now that the members have dropped the word progressive, I guess that means it is the regressive conservative party. It used to be Alliance of course, and Reform, and Saskatchewan's Saskatchewan Party, and maybe it will be cold porridge next, I am not sure.